I had two pregnancies both in 1985 (son) and 1988 (daughter) where I developed HELLP. Our son was premature born at 5 lbs. 3 oz. He is now 28 and in great health! Our daughter was born early but not premature - 7 lbs. 7 oz. She is now 25 and in good health. Back in the mid 80's, HELLP was quite new to the doctors and fortunately, we lived in a good medical community where both pregnancies were caught, diagnosed and treated. My symptoms were identical to most comments I have read. We were told since I developed HELLP with both pregnancies and nearly died with both, we shouldn't have a 3rd child so we decided two healthy children were a blessing.

My concern now is the aftereffects of a mother who delivered a child or children to HELLP. Strangely, I have a close friend whom I grew up with who also developed HELLP with her first child. He is healthy and now 18 years old. Both she and I have had similar health problems since our deliveries and are curious if they can be related to the fact we developed HELLP with our kids.

Is there research out there to help us understand if our medical problems could be related to our HELLP births? She has heart problems, now joint problems and migraines. I have daily headaches and migraines often. I can't tell you the last time I woke up without a headache. The doctoring has continued for decades and most doctors are stumped after they've seen me. I have been to the Mayo Clinic in the neurology department and have had no success with medications or Botox injections. My friend who is also seen at the Mayo Clinic has had success with medications and Botox injections for her migraines. I am 53 years old and still peri-menopausal but in the early stages of menopause. I know some of my migraines are due to hormones which I hope are eliminated once I am officially through menopause.

Recently my friend was seen by the Rheumatology department at Mayo Clinic where she was referred to by her home doctor. She is currently on rheumatoid medication and has found some real relief. My question for those of you out there who are suffering with long-term effects of HELLP Syndrome, what are your symptoms and have you had success treating those symptoms? Is there research to prove that those women who delivered HELLP babies have permanent autoimmune problems? Are there other women suffering like I am? Could my problems be related to an autoimmune problem. That is about the only kind of doctoring I haven't done. I also have Raynaud's but haven't done anything about it.

ALSO, is there research that shows the children who were born to HELLP having long term effects?

I just posted about this very thing. I had HELLP 7 years ago and am still sick.... slowly getting worse. I'm almost to the point where I can't do anything. For example: I do one load of dishes and I have to lie down for hours. The fatigue and weakness is unbearable. I also have odd joint pains that move around and come and go. I also have high CRP... you know what they told me... they told me my CRP is high because I'm now overweight. Before I got HELLP I was very very active and even in the Army... now I can't do daily tasks and they want to blame everything on weight. How about figuring what is wrong instead of blaming me..... I'm very agree with doctors right now....

Since I nearly died of HELLP two and a half years ago I have struggled with cognitive impairment caused by the stroke as well as mysterious, pervasive joint pain (all my major joints). It probably doesn't help that I have suddenly entered menopause. However, I do wonder how much of the discomfort I experience in my joints is caused by the lingering affects of HELLP Syndrome.

I was informed by the internal medicine docs in pregnancy that HELLP can shorten your life and that it can increase your chances of having a heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure in the future. I have had fluctuating blood pressure since my delivery a year ago usually between normal and 160/110, but was in great shape before getting pregnant.

I have had a myriad of health conditions creep up since having my HELLP syndrome in 2000. No doctor seems to think that Hellp syndrome is even relevant... I often wonder what kind of research has been done because when i had it in 2000 it seemed as though there was no information on it and no one heard of it!!

It's been a very long time since you posted your question and I am new to this forum. In case you still check responses, I just wanted to say that I have had ongoing long term health problems directly related to my HELLP Syndrome. I did not have any autoimmune diseases or heart, blood problems (etc) prior to my pregnancy. It's been 6 yrs since my severe HELLP Syndrome and they are discovering damage directly related back to the HELLP trauma. It has baffled the doctors. According to a lot of research I have done, it is not common to have long term health problems. BUT, I wonder if that is because of the lack of research and case studies years out from HELLP. If you read this, let me know if you've found out any information.

Hi, I had HELLP in 2004 with my son who was born @ 30wk5d. Thankfully he was healthy and needed NICU only to finish growing. Now, 5 years later I'm having issues with c-reactive protein in my blood. I have unexplainable elevation. I tested borderline for Lupus but other than that there is no obvious reason for the elevation. I really believe that it has something to due with my pg. complications but I can't find anything on how HELLP may effect mothers long term. Has anyone else had health issues as a result of HELLP?